Finding Favor With Children

It is common these days to hear parents say that their children, especially during the teenage years, do not like them. It is considered normal for adolescents to be mad, huffy and rebellious toward their parents and often it is expected as a normal phase of family life.

With all the emotional and physical changes kids endure during their adolescent years, maybe bad attitudes or unhappiness from teenagers is inevitable, particularly when they do not get their way or what they want. But for some families, the teenage years are so difficult that it is hard for parents not to feel as though God has left them on their own to struggle through. 

I often wonder if this period of family life is at times worse than it needs to be. Is it just the way things are with teenagers or have parents missed something that could help prevent or dull their negativity and defiance? 

Read More Here.

On Duty

Every Christian is called to be on duty twenty - four hours every day in 'the king's business.' Your office, your school, your kitchen, your drawing room, your factory, all are a mission field. Jesus still says, "Give the hungry something to eat."

Plenty For Everyone, Corrie Ten Boom

God Weighs The Motive

Praise adds nothing to your holiness, nor does blame take anything from it. You are what you are, and you cannot be said to be better than you are in God's sight. If you consider well what you are within, you will not care what men say about you. They look to appearances, but God looks to the heart. They consider the deed, but God weighs the motive.

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas A Kempis

Pat Robertson seems to have forgotten the verse "Do Unto Others."

During the Sunday evening service, my church asked for donations to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Turns out, my church has been involved for a number of years with ministries in Haiti and as a result already has relationships and partnerships in place that will be able to quickly bring aid to those in need.

I did not hear any words of condemnation or any insinuation that Haiti was being judged or punished by God at my church last night. The only thing that mattered was that there is a desperate need for aid in Haiti and the people sitting in the audience should help financially if they could. It was a far cry from the words spoken by Pat Robertson this past week about the devastation in Haiti.

Read More Here.

Fellowship With God

If fellowship with God is our first concern, then we can have fellowship with Him in the kitchen, in sickness, in any kind of trying and difficult situation. Whatever lies across our path to be done, even the most irksome chore, is there to be done for God and for His glory. Gone will be the former striving, bondage and frustration. We shall be at peace with our God and ourselves.

We Would See Jesus, Roy and Revel Hession

The Atlanta Examiner

My new article, "Listening to President Obama is like listening to an alcoholic," is up at the Atlanta Examiner if you want to check it out!

God Is Love

Every single thing that happens to the Christian expresses God's love and furthers God's purpose for him. Thus, so far as he is concerned, God is love to him - holy, omnipotent love - at every moment and in every event of everyday life. Even when he cannot see the why and wherefore of God's dealings, he knows that there is love in and behind them and so he can rejoice always; even when, humanly speaking, things are going wrong, he knows that the true story of his life, when known, will prove to be "mercy from first to last' - and he is content.

In God's Presence, JI Packer

Book Review: Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade

It is hard for many of us to imagine, but there is a slave trade that is alive and thriving all over the world. In almost every major country, human trafficking is occurring. The poor and vulnerable, widows and orphans, and at times entire families are being lured and trapped into a life of servitude and slavery. 

David Batstone, in his book Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade, chronicles the rise and return of the global slave trade as well as the hot beds for slavery around the world. The book is full of statistics, thoroughly researched, and includes real life accounts by former victims of their time in slavery as well as how they escaped in places such as Thailand, Uganda, Europe, and the USA.   

The victims stories are chilling and tragic, but Batstone also profiles the every day people and heros who have dedicated their lives to rescuing slaves. Not For Sale is an excellent resource for readers to learn about modern human trafficking and how they can help stop it. 

My Stack 2010

As I have stated in previous posts, I have a little bit of a book problem. Meaning, I love books, so I read a lot, particularly when I should be doing other things, like sleeping.

This is what my bedside table looks like.

These are some of the books I am looking forward to reading this year...

On Writing
The Israel Test
Deep Survival
Choosing Gratitude
Baby Wise
What's So Amazing About Grace
The Importance of Being Foolish
Patched Together
Superfreakonomics
Wrapped in Rain
The Mission Of Motherhood
Master And Commander
Master Your Metabolism
The Shaping Of A Christian Family
Homeschooling For Excellence
Experiencing God Through Prayer
Springs In The Valley
My Grandfather's Son
The Defector
Boundaries With Kids
HMS Surprise
Post Captain
The Mauritius Command
Desolation Island
The Fortune Of War
Praying
Dear John
Jayber Crow
Parenting by the Book
Not For Sale
Louder Than Words
The Road
Crazy Love
Moscow Rules
Potluck
Churchill
The King Must Die
Getting Out Of Our Kids Faces and Into Their Hearts
The Surgeon's Mate
The Ionian Mission
Treason's Harbor
The Far Side of the World
The Reverse of the Medal
The Letter of Marque
The Fat Smash Diet
The Remebrant Affair
Ragamuffin Gospel
The Ministry of Motherhood
What Is A Family
Toddler Wise
Child Wise
World War IV
Tinkers
Queen Elizabeth
Guilty
Damaged But Not Broken
Cool It
The Butterfly Garden
The Last Days Of The Romanovs
The Afghan Campaign
The Discipline of Grace
Raising Great Kids
The Bin Laden Family
Christ of the Indian Road
The Help
Traitor To His Class: The Story Of Franklin D Roosevelt
Twelve Christian Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy
Jesus Creed
The Scarlet Letter
The Second World War
The First World War
A History of the Jews
The 4:8 Principle
Grace Based Parenting
Ruthless Trust
Liberal Fascism
The History Of The American People

The Ministry of Small Things

The unglamorous and little publicized words of mercy, the ministry of small things, feeding and sheltering, visiting the sick and incarcerated, educating, correcting, speaking a healing word, bearing wrongs, listening creatively, counseling, washing dirty feet, praying with people, are all ways of living the life of compassion. This is no minor matter. When Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect... as your heavenly Father is perfect," the same commandment is translated in Luke 6:36: "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate."

The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Brennan Manning